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Norway’s top consumer advocate said Monday he is taking Apple Inc. to the government’s Market Council in a test case seeking to force the American company to open its iTunes music store to digital players other than its own iPod.

“We discussed this at a meeting two weeks ago, and decided that Norway will do the test case,” Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon said by telephone. “This could have international consequences.”

So many questions come to mind. Just the Top 10:

  1. Should a government tell its citizens what store they should get their music from?
  2. Are Norwegians unable or unwilling to burn a CD to transfer their music anywhere else DRM free?
  3. Norway recognizes copyright, DRM can be used to protect copyright and it’s legal to strip DRM. Should Apple bundle iStripper with iTunes?
  4. Has Norway compelled music labels to provide DRM-free content to Apple so it can sell them?
  5. Why is Norway so interested in making DRM cross-platform instead of illegal?
  6. Will Norwegian taxpayers pay Apple the financial burden of breaking its licensing agreements with the labels that compel Apple to sell DRM-laden music?
  7. If iTunes is shut off in Norway will Norwegian citizens be better off?
  8. Has Norway asked gamebox manufacturers to implement mandatory cross-platform licensing among consoles like XBox 360 and PS3?
  9. Has Norway also asked Microsoft –– whose PlaysForSure DRM won’t play on Zune, but Zune DRM (which Microsoft won’t license to anybody else) will on PlaysForSure hardware –– to eliminate or license its DRM?
  10. So what if FairPlay-protected songs only play on iPods?

But perhaps the most important question in this instance is:

Has anyone asked the Norwegian consumers if this is what they really want?

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